Sun, chicks and flowers.

 I love when the forecasters are wrong.  Sunday originally was supposed to be rainy, but instead we ended up with sun!  I didn't want to waste any of it so I headed outside to start working on the area we are going to put the chicken coop.   My husband was only a week post op from his surgery and couldn't help.  Sweet Pea had run a 5K the day before and then played a very rough indoor soccer game (a teammate of her's ended up with a broken rib) that morning so she didn't last too long.  While she was there we got quite a bit done.  Then I was left on my own, but it was worth all the work knowing why I was doing it.

 Before there was a plastic playhouse, a raised bed, a wine barrel planter and there was several inches of pea gravel that had to be moved.  In a couple of weeks we will hopefully start and finish building the coop during the kids spring break.

 The chicks are growing so quickly, just like the garden right now, they seem to change overnight.  Everything I've read and everyone I've talked to has told me the importance of handling the chicks and having them get used to us.  We all take turns giving them scratch (a "treat" for chickens) from our hands and we can now predict who will be the first one to come over, who will jump up on our arm and who will be the last to timidly squeeze in.  The Black Star ,which was named Stamatina by my husband, is now being called Tina Fey.  According to my husband her middle name is Stamatina.  Tina Fey rolls off the tongue a lot easier!  Wonder if she would be proud or insulted to have a chicken named after her?

 Sunny is already starting to sprout tail feathers.

 Chirpy is quite nosy and wanted to see the camera as closely as possible.

 Blossom, on Sweet Pea's lap, with Gracie checking her out.

On Monday we had sun again although I didn't really have time to work out in it, I wanted to take some pictures since so much is starting to bloom now.   These were tulips I bought in a box from the grocery store last fall.  They are so pretty!

Flowering Currant 'Prince Edward VII' is one I would highly recommend.  It has grown quickly, has tons of flowers and has survived under a big Cedar tree.  I have another unnamed Pink Flowering Currant that does well under a Pine tree, but this one is my favorite.

Navelwort 'Starry Eyes' is so sweet.  It is slowly spreading in the shady path garden.

Grape Hyacinth are starting to bloom.

Old fashioned Bleeding Hearts are days from blooming.  I think they are my very favorite spring flower.

Anemone blanda always surprises me each year.  They seem to just pop up and bloom overnight.

This Tulipa turkestanica is a little past it's prime but I wanted to show how pretty it looks with the sun shining on it.

We're back to rain again, but it looks like next weekend should be sunny.  This time I hope the forecast is right!

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

It's only just begun...

 What a week it was around here last week.  It was very full of field trips (one for each girl on the same day and I drove on both!), a school choir concert, sports and ballet and my husband's surgery.  I knew there would be no time outside during that week and since the weather wasn't that great I didn't miss much.  My husband did amazingly well with his surgery and while he rested and recuperated over the weekend I played out in the sunny yard.  Saturday I spend working in the front yard and Sunday was spent around the pond.

 I scooped and scooped out the pond, cleaned the filter, trimmed the plants and cleaned off the waterfall.  It looks so much better.  Unfortunately this is string algae's favorite time of year and it has just taken off.  I spend much of the spring scooping it out of the pond.  I just love that our neighbors Forsythia is right where we can enjoy it.  The gold Mock Orange's leaves and daffodils pop with it in the background.

 Marsh marigold has been blooming for weeks, but now that the pot has been cleaned up the flowers can actually be seen.

 I put the pond floats back in.  The one in the middle is new this year, I bought it at the Flower and Garden show.

 This may not look like much now, but I spent a long time getting the purple oxalis up from next to the edgers.  I also cut the dead branches off the Daphne 'Summer Ice' and transplanted an offshoot from it.  It isn't variegated but otherwise looks the same.  Those Violas have been blooming almost all winter.

 Cleaned up the edges here too.  I love how the shed garden looks in spring, lots more to come here too.

 You can see this Ribes sanguineum 'Kind Edward VII' in the previous picture to the right.  This one has grown so quickly.

 Okay, so I lied when I said I got nothing down outside last week.  I added a long shelf in the shed and made a shorter one on top of the two clay pots.  I've been having fun "decorating" and organizing.  One day I'd love to paint it white inside.

 A view out of the shed.

 The path garden is starting to fill in.  I'd like to focus on this area this year.  I'm trying to convince my husband to remove the deck, so far he has agreed to taking off the far half.  I would prefer a stone patio and no deck at all.  But I guess he should have some say in how our garden looks.

 At the end of last summer I pulled up a currant bush that looked horrible and moved the Winter Hazel and Bleeding Heart to new places here.  I was wondering how the Winter Hazel would do this spring and it seems to be blooming better than it ever has.

 Winter Hazel (Corylopsis) 'Buttercup' has the most delicate butter yellow flowers.

 The Littlest Gardener is thrilled to see Grape Hyacinths popping up.  This is one flower I allow her to pick all she wants.  We seem to have them coming up everywhere and they look so cute in spring bouquets.

 One of the few Daffodils that returned.  Other than Tete-a-tetes I give up on Daffodils.  They either send up only foliage or the squirrels take them.

So, the spring flower show has begun along with a little bit of warmer temperatures.  I'm really excited to see the changes that seem to happen overnight this time of year.
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Finally some time in the garden!

This week the kids are out for mid-winter break.  It seems like they've been home from school more than in school this year between winter break, teacher days off, snow days and now another break.  Anyway, we've been having fun, but I've been hoping to spend some time outside this week in between all of their social outings.  The weather up until today has been pretty miserable so I guess it worked out for the best.  During this break last year we spent it out front ripping up our grass, building raised beds and putting in a picket fence.  This time I just got to go out and have fun.

 The Littlest Gardener decided to move her fairy garden out front under a Lavatera bush.  I think it looks very cute.  Soon I will be planting a small David Austin rose that I ordered in that open spot.  The fairies will have to be careful not to get poked.

 Along the opposite part of the yard I planted a new bare root David Austin rose 'Benjamin Britten'.  This is where the Delphiniums are returning and I think it should look very pretty together, not to mention when the Clematis on the trellis is blooming too.

 A couple of weeks ago my husband and I transplanted all of what was already there after we added some nice new compost.  If you remember we found that the soil delivered last year when we built this was the wrong kind and the plants really struggled.  Today I direct sowed some lettuce, radishes, snow peas and tons of sweet peas after seeing that Jenni was having luck with her seeds already.

 I think this might be the prettiest Primula I've ever seen.  The picture does not do it justice.  It is called 'Victoriana Gold Lace'.

 Hellebore 'Pink Frost' which was added last year is covered in flowers.  The Hellebore 'Pink Marble' that was planted at the same time looks terrible, no new growth and no flowers.  They are in the same area, not sure what's going on.

 The birdhouse on this potting bench on the front porch seems to be the chosen home for a pair of Bewicks Wrens.  They've been working on it for about a week now.  In the backyard I saw a pair of Chickadees checking out a birdhouse.

 In the backyard the Pink Flowering Currants (Ribes sanguineum) are getting closer to blooming.

 Clematis 'Nelly Moser' has lots of new growth as do most of the Clematises.

 Old-fashioned Bleeding Hearts are coming up.  If you look closely you will see the whitish looking flowerbuds already forming.

 Last year after Sweet Pea's other rabbit Cookie died we made a small garden for him.  She chose this pretty Hellebore off the clearance rack, it's called 'Cotton Candy'.

 While checking on the blueberries I found that the Littlest Gardener has turned this bed into a play area.  She likes to make pies, etc.  It can be planted next year I guess.

 Plants in the pond are beginning to send up new growth.  They need some cleaning up but I'm not brave enough to stick my hands in that cold water yet to prune them.

The roses also got pruned today.  I usually prune them after President's Day.  It felt so good to spend some time outside!

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

What have we here?

We were lucky enough to have another dry day and even some sun peeking out on Saturday.  After watching a very close and nerve-wracking basketball game of Sweet Pea's (they won!), we hurried home to be able to enjoy the weather.  It was so mild that it felt more like early spring than the middle of winter.  While I started cleaning up the shed garden and around the pond both of the girls worked on the fairy garden, giving it a little "updating".  Sweet Pea showed me the 2 inch tall Japanese Maple "sapling" that she planted in the tiniest terra cotta pot I've seen.  The little pot is only about 1 1/2 inches tall itself, perfect for fairies to tend.  She plans to do a post on it soon, her blog is listed in the PNW garden blogroll.
I walked around the path garden looking for bulbs that may have popped up and found a really nice surprise...

One of the Pulmonarias has begun to flower!  This tagless one was rescued from the nursery a couple of years ago, this is the first time it's bloomed.

Even though it's only January the path is already starting to get the look of spring.  The Pink Flowering Currant's (Ribes sanguineum) buds are growing more each day, Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is greening up and the scent of Sarcococca/Sweet Box carries across the yard.  Can you see the Tete-a-tete Daffodils coming up?

Old-fashioned Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) are emerging.

The Fairies have hung their door at the bottom of the giant Ponderosa Pine and are busy getting the garden ready for spring.  The green coming up at the bottom of the picture are Bluebells, we have lots and lots of them ☺.

Fairies lounging by the pond.

And fairies hiding in the shed garden.  This little area is becoming one of my favorite parts of the shed garden.  This is a Flowering Currant 'King Edward VII' with Epimedium and Hellebore 'Blue Lady' growing nearby.  Epimedium has done so well in my dry shade that I plan to pick a few more up this year.

I found an interesting post on Cliff Mass' weather blog (he's a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington) talking about what has happened with the La Nina winter we were predicted to have here in the Pacific Northwest (a prediction of increased snowfalls and colder temperatures than we've had in many years).  As most of us have noticed that live here, aside from snowing a few times, the weather doesn't seem that unusual compared to most winters here.  His blog is always interesting and if you live around here it's a great one to check out.

The shed garden.

Our weather has been very nice the past several days, and it seems that the plants were waiting for the sun and warmer weather as much as I was. Everything seems to be growing quickly all of a sudden. One area that seems to be doing well is the new garden in front of the shed. I still haven't decided what I'm calling it, so far now it's still "the shed". Maybe once I get it decorated a little I'll be able to give it a name. I'm hoping we can visit some antique stores or flea markets this summer and find something gardeny to use. I have just loved having everything organized inside and it's kept my tools in much better condition already. I still plan to put up some shelves inside and maybe find an old chair or something for the deck.

I've been slowly adding plants in. I've found a couple of native plants for this area and think I will also add a Sword fern which is a native evergreen fern. The shrub against the fence is a Flowering Currant (Ribes Sanguineum) 'King Edward VII' - a native shrub - which will be smaller than my other Pink Flowering Currant.

Another Pacific Northwest native wildflower is Lewisia cotyledon. This is more of an alpine plant which according to the tag likes "perfect drainage". Hopefully this sunny area in a bit of gravelly soil will work. There are lots of little flower buds growing on it. I've been working on adding more native plants into my garden.

Astrantia 'Sunningdale Variegated' really is pretty tough. I dug into it twice after transplanting it here. This was new to my garden last year and I can't wait to see it bloom this year.

I love how these two Heucheras are looking together 'Green Spice' is the closer one and 'Berry Smoothie' is right next to it. Right behind them I found some Foxglove seedlings that have flower buds on them.

The little Pink Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) is doing well here too. They don't seem to be very fast growing trees, so I'm sure it'll be many years before it looks like the one in our front yard.

There is still work to do here, but so far I'm really happy with how it's filling in.
My in-laws are coming to visit this week and I'm glad our predicted weather is sunny and warm, hopefully we can spend some time outside now that the garden is looking good. That way I'll be forced to just enjoy it while we visit rather than on the ground weeding.